CHALOME VALLEY &GT;&GT; A massive south Monterey County solar farm could still be on track to beat the 2016 deadline to qualify for solar energy investment tax credits despite the delayed release of the project's draft environmental impact report.

A draft EIR for the proposed California Flats Solar project was released earlier this month for public comment, which will be accepted through Sept. 22. The Planning Commission is expected to consider the project by the end of a year, with a project development agreement that is already near completion expected to go to the Board of Supervisors after that.

The proposal calls for a 280-megawatt photovoltaic solar power facility on about 3,000 acres of the 72,000-acre Jack Ranch owned by the Hearst Corp. in the Chalome Valley near the borders of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Fresno and Kings counties.

The site is designated as a competitive renewable energy zone under the state's Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative, and already has the 230-kilovolt Morro Bay-Gates transmission line running through it.

The project, which would be the county's first utility-grade solar initiative, would include more than 1 million solar panels that track the sun and would be capable of providing power to 100,000 homes.

It would operate for 30 years before being dismantled, and the land would be returned to grazing.

The project applicant is California Flats Solar, a subsidiary of First Solar, Inc., a Tempe, Arizona-based global solar power plants developer. First Solar took over the project from Element Power last fall.

The draft EIR was originally supposed to be completed by last year, with construction set to begin later this year.

But county planner Delinda Robinson said it's more likely project construction will start next year some time, though she said the project developer's goal remains to finish by the end of 2016.

Robinson praised the proposal as the kind of renewable energy project "that we need, in my view."

A development agreement between the project applicant and the county under negotiation since the applicant requested one about a year ago is nearly completed, according to county Resource Management Agency director Benny Young.

The agreement would allow the county to collect sales tax on the power produced by the facility, Young said.

The draft EIR finds the project's construction and operation would have significant impacts on air quality and traffic, and analyzes several alternatives including a smaller proposal.

Robinson said the only opposition has come from a few neighbors who complained their view would be affected by the solar array.

Copies of the report are available for review at the county planning department in Salinas, John Steinbeck Library in Salinas, the Monterey County Free Library branches in Gonzales, Soledad, San Ardo, King City and Bradley and the Paso Robles Library.